Internal combustion engine



Dec. 19, 1933- N. MATTACCHIONE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Original Filed June 1, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 1933- N. MATTACCHIONE 1,940,003

INTERNAL COMBUST ION ENGINE Original Filed June 1, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Dec. 19, 1933. N. MATTACCHIONE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Original Filed June 1, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 l atentecl Dec. 19,

iiv'iEitNAL COMBUSTION nNGINn Natalino Mattacchione, Wilson, at. A

Original application June 1, 1928, Serial No. 282,095, new Patent No. 1,848,573, March 8, 1932. Divided and this application December 15, 1931. Serial No. 581,310

2 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements ininternal combustion engines, and finds practical application in engines for propellers of aeroplanes and the like. The present specification comprises a division of my co-pending application :Serial N0. 282,095, filed June 1st, 1928; now .Patentii 1,848,573- o The object in view is simplicity in structure, and efliciency in power generation.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. I is a view in section ,on a plane'which is axial with respect both the propeller shaft and to two oppositely placed :power units; Fig. II is a view in section on a plane at right angles to that of Fig. I, the plane indicated a I; Fi

III shows in elevation and in section one of the.

two duplicate members which together constitute an interconnection between certain movable parts; Figs, IV and V similarly show two members which to ether constitu e an in erc nnection between certain other movable parts; Figs.

VI and VII are views in section, and to some- 7 what larger cale, and the show ng i the am whether on the plane indica ed at or VII-VII, Fig. I. The two figures, VI and VII show in alternate active and inactive position either and both of two clutches,

The power units here shown are internal coinbustion engines of double-cylinder, four-cycle type; that is to say, each engine includes a cylinder within a cylinder, and a piston within the inner cylinder. The inner cylinder serves as a piston in its relation to the outer cylinder, and as a cylinder with relation to the piston within it. A plurality of such double-cylinder units are arranged in pairs, in diametrically opposite positions with respect to the propeller shaft between. In the instance illustrated in the drawings two pairs of units are shown. Each unit includes an outer cylinder 1, an inner cylinder 2, and a piston 3, and between the two units of the pair extends the propeller shaft 4.

The pistons 3 of the oppositely paired engine units are rigidly interconnected, and move as a unit; and in like manner the inner cylinders 2 are interconnected, and they also move as a unit.

The interconnection between the pistons 3 includes a yoke made up of two such members as are shown in Fig. III, assembled face to face, as indicated in Fig. I, and pinned to the pistons, and adapted in the assembly to surround the propeller shaft and to move freely in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the propeller shaft. This yoke is provided with opposite bearing faces 5 which extend in planes perpendicularly to that diametrical line through the shaft 4 inv which the axes of the engine'units lie. Upon these bearing surfaces, with proper clearance for operation, an eccentric disk 6 borne by shaft 4 bears, in substantial tangency. The yoke is further provided with hearing faces 7, which in the assembly are engaged by rollers 8, suitably mounted rotatably in the walls of an enclosing casing 9. t

Similarly, the interconnection between the inner cylinders 2 includes a pair of yokes, made up each of the two members of Figs. IV'and V, and in the assembly placed oppositely with respect to the axis of the cylinders themselves, and spaced, as indicated in Fig. I, to Work free of interference with the yoke first mentioned. Each of this pair of yokes, similarly to the structure already described, is provided with opposite bearing faces 10, and upon these bearing surfaces, with proper...75 clearance, eccentric disks l1 borne by shaft 4 bear, in substantial tangency. These yokes also are provided with longitudinally extending bearing surfaces 12, whose opposite faces are engaged by rollers 13, mounted as are rollers 8. V I 30 The two engine units are thus arranged in counterpoise, When in a cylinder chamber of oneuni t the exploded charge is driving one of the pistons inward and through the eccentric is imparting rotation to the shaft, the same con-' 55 nection is effective directly to drive the corresponding member of the other unit outwardly, to compress a fresh charge or to scavenge a cylinder chamber, as the case may be. The cage through which the thrust is transmitted, being rigid and movable in ways defined by rollers (themselves mounted on a stationary support), transmits the thrust with fullest effect.

In the range of rotation of the eccentric disks, the points of tangency upon bearing faces 5 andes 10 move from coincidence with the axial line of the engine units (the position of Fig. II), first to one side and then to the other, but such lateral displacement of the line of strain is at the maximum slight, and the cages being rigid and integral members borne on roller bearings, the structure is strong to endure the slight periodic deviation in the line of strain.

As shown in Fig. I, the engine includes a plurality of oppositely arranged pairs of power units 1105 operating upon the common propeller shaft 4. The cam disks of such second pair of units are indicated at 20 and 2l. The structure may be understood to be identical with that already described. This second pair of units is arranged on a common axis, perpendicular to that of the first pair.

The eccentrics 6, 11, 20, and 21 are not mounted immediately upon the shaft 4; but eccentrics 6 and 11 of one pair of units are mounted upon sleeve 14, and the eccentrics and 21 of the other pair aremounted upon sleeve 15, and the two sleeves independently engage shaft 4 by clutches of the character sufficiently indicated in Figs. VI and VII- The forward drive of the sleeve (here indicated 14) is counter-clockwise, and it will be perceived that by interengagement of the clutch parts the driving thrust is imparted to the shaft. If either sleeve lags in 'its speed of turning, or is at rest, the turning of the other sleeve will, independently, through its proper clutch impart to the shaft its rotative power.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an internal combustion engine a shaft, a pair of engine units including each a piston within a cylinder, arranged in diametrically opposite positions with. respect to the shaft, the

-- pistons of the opposite engine units being interconnected and movable as a unit, and an ecceninterconnection of the pistons being in the form of a cage with opposite bearing surfaces extending in planes perpendicular to the common axis of the engine units and spaced apart at an interval equal to the diameter of said eccentric disk, and the engagement between said eccentric disk and said pistons being a tangential engagement upon said bearing surfaces.

. 2. In an internal combustion engine a shaft, a pair of engine units arranged in diametrically opposite positions with respect to the shaft, each unit including an inner and an outer cylinder,

the inner cylinder constituting a piston with respect to the outer cylinder, and a piston within the inner cylinder, a cage interconnecting the pistons within the inner cylinders of the two units, two cages spaced from the cage first mentioned and interconnecting the inner cylinders of the two engine units, each of the three said cages'being provided with opposite bearing surfaces spaced apart and disposed in planes parallel to one another and perpendicular to the common axis of the engine units; the said shaft being equipped with three eccentric-disks of diameters equal to the-space intervals between the opposite bearing surfaces-of the-several cages, each disk engaging tangentially-the oppositebearing surfaces of one'of the said cages.

NATALINO MA'I'IACCHIONE. 

